The Ringer NFL Show - Free Agency Awards | Dual Threat

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

Austin, Steven, and Lindsay recap this week's NFL free agency period before giving out awards to the biggest winners and losers, and the teams in between. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Austin Gayle, Steven Ruiz, and Lindsay Jones Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Musical Elements: Devon Renaldo Social: Kiera Givens and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL draft this year. My name is Ben Solac and I host the Ringer NFL Draft Show with Danny Kelly, Danny Hypatts, and Craig Horleck. We cover trades, free agency, and the draft, which is, yeah, obviously. We'll tell you about everything, which includes which quarterbacks are good, which quarterbacks are bad, and which quarterbacks are just Kirk Cousins. That is the Ringer NFL Draft Show. Search the Ringer NFL Draft Show on Spotify. Welcome into Triple Threat, not dual threat, nor Prinsiani is off, illegally tampering,

or maybe she's running with Robert Kennedy Jr. We don't know what Nora Princeati is doing, but who is with me now is Lindsay Jones, senior editor here at The Ringer, and of course, Stephen. Lindsay and Stephen, how is the tampering process going? Are you guys illegally tampering? Are you legally tampering? Where are we at? All illegal for me on my end. I'm all tampered out. Like, we are in, we are recording this at about six, a little after six o'clock Eastern time on Wednesday, about two hours after Free Agency officially opened. And we are like in Wave 3. a free agency. I don't know for even in wave two anymore. We have tampered so much in the last 48 hours that outside of the Calvin Ridley deal, which we're going to talk about here in a minute, like, it's done. It feels like wave five, wave six or something. And I think it was like what, like 80 plus signings were announced within a few hours of legal tampering on Monday to where

the new league year begins at four o'clock Eastern on Wednesday. And the, you know, there's like only a handful of moves that even are left. What we've decided to do here is hand out some awards. You know, some loosely, maybe it's an Oscars thing. You know, there's a lot of Google docking going on on these awards and what the names are. I kind of came up with them.

There's some movie references. There's some non-movie references. Most of them are good. Some of them are bad. We'll see how it goes. But where I wanted to start, just to kind of bring in the Calvin Ridley signing, going to the Tennessee Titans,

the It's a lot of money and I'm scared award. Lindsay, I know you wanted to nominate that new contract, really just got in Tennessee? Yeah, I mean, we were looking at a lot of teams. You know, look, the salary cap spiked this year up to $255 million. A lot of teams had cash burning holes in their pocket. The Calvin Ridley situation has been probably the most interesting drama over the last 24 hours or so.

After the first wave of deals went out, he was the best wide receiver available on the free agent market. And literally until the tweet dropped from Ian Rappaport that, Calvin Ridley was going to Tennessee, the expectation was that he was going to either stay in Jacksonville or he was going to go to New England and that these two teams were in somewhat of a bidding war. Part of it was driven by the fact that there was motivation for him to wait until 4 o'clock Eastern because of the draft pick compensation with the trade with Atlanta. And they'd get to 4 o'clock. He would sign with Jacksonville. New England had maybe been a pawn to drive up the price. and then boom, he goes to Tennessee.

The details of the deal are, you know, pretty remarkable. He's going to average $23 million a year. It's a four-year deal, $23 million a year, which puts him in the top 10. I think it's like in the eight or nine range. The big number, though, is $50 million fully guaranteed, according to Ian Rappaport from NFL Network. That would be the second most amount of fully guaranteed money

for a wide receiver behind only Tyrone. re-kill. That is a very significant number. And, you know, kudos to that team for, you know, to his team for driving that up and getting into this bidding war when everybody else was kind of racing to agree to deals early. But it does raise a lot of questions, I think, about what are the Titans doing and how are they spending their money kind of in this new regime? Ron Carthon, their second year general manager, he is in charge now. That was one of the, the ripple effects of the Mike Brable firing back in January was that Carthon was really elevated to have total control over this roster. They brought in Brian Callahan from Cincinnati as their

new head coach. And, you know, among the deals that they've made, they race to sign Tony Pollard to, you know, get Tony Pollard in, I believe, are right about $8 million a year who is not a Derek Henry's style of back by any means, right? I mean, he's a guy who seems to throughout his career has thrived best in a committee. He's kind of a not a guy who's a workhorse back, doesn't need a ton of carries. Very opposite from the way that Derek Henry plays. They signed Mason Rudolph. They signed Kenneth Murray, an off-ball linebacker who's film from the Chargers is not maybe the greatest.

Is that maybe a fair way? I think that's more than fair. That's charitable, actually. It's the nicest thing anybody has ever said about him in the last few years. Okay, fair. So, you know, the moves of Tennessee is making scream to me as a team that they know they're bad and they need to just throw around a lot of money and bring in a lot of new bodies. And look, Calvin Ridley, like, he was good last year.

But I don't know if he's number two and guaranteed money for wide receivers type of good. Ruiz, I want you to hit on that because Calvin Ridley, four years, $19 million, $50, guaranteed. You have to imagine that a lot of that guaranteed money is in the first and second years of that contract. Maybe that's something they're getting out of after his age 31, age 32 season. But I think the year he had in Jacksonville last year, people expected more. I think he played well, but people expected more. When you were watching Ridley last year, what kind of receiver, what kind of tread is left on these tires that Tennessee is getting? And then also maybe expand to these moves that they did have bringing in other guys like Tennessee, where I don't think is going to be

competitive next year, four years, $50 million to Lloyd Cushenberry, the center formerly of the Denver Broncos. They signed Chidobiae, the Cincinnati Bengals Corner coming off an injury to a three-year contract. They brought in, obviously, Kenneth Murray, like we mentioned, Tony Pollard. Where are you at with Ridley and where you at with this Tennessee offseason? Starting with Ridley, like Lindsay said, he had a good year last year, but when you watch the tape, like, down to down, a lot of busts, a lot of, routes run at the wrong depth, a lot of choice routes where he took the wrong choice and set Trevor Lawrence up for some ugly looking interceptions. And that was an issue with the whole receiving court,

but he stood out because he was the lead guy. And I'm just thinking about pairing Will Levis with a receiver who can run the wrong routes at times. And there could be some ugly, ugly interceptions in Tennessee next year. But you're saying they're a team that's not going to compete, but look at the roster. And I think the front office thinks they're going to compete next year. They have a little like Bengals-like thing going with these receivers now. they have D'Andre Hopkins, obviously, Ridley signs today.

And then you have Traylon Burks, the first round pick from two years ago. They have a receiving court where you can kind of like close your eyes and imagine them doing big things. But it comes back to the quarterback. And I don't think this is the quarterback to get the most out of that receiving court in a scheme that's going to look like Cincinnati's, I would imagine, with Brian Kallahan. But a quarterback who is as accurate as Joe Burrow. Yeah, and doesn't process like Joe Burrow. And when I say not expected to compete, a lot of that is because Will Levis is still, you know, going to be in his second year. We haven't seen, we want to see a lot more from him before we're looking at this as a team that can even compete in the AFC South.

Right now on Fandle, they're plus 600 to win their own division. They have the third worst odds of any AFC team to win that conference just ahead of the Broncos and the Patriots. No one is expecting this Rancarthon team to compete, maybe outside of Rancarthon, given how he's handed out some free agent deals. And I think a lot of the words that were used just the last point on Ridley and that I kind of want to bring up another team to nominate for this award. the it's a lot of money and I'm scared award. A lot of, I think the word that was used on Twitter the most was like, surprise, surprise, because you mentioned, you know, Lindsay that the Patriots were interested. Obviously, the Jaguars were interested in waiting until after the 4 p.m. deadline.

So the trade for Ridley then became a third round pick back to Atlanta rather than a second round pick. I'm not surprised now seeing the money because Ridley probably saw this as like, oh my God, four year commitment, 50 million guaranteed. No way he was getting that, in my opinion, from the Patriots. And I definitely don't think he was going to be able to get that from the Jacksonville Jaguars, given how much money they've shelled out already this offseason. And I want to talk about all the money that the Jacksonville Jaguars have already spent this year and how that's gone. On to another team that I think needs to be nominated that I think wants to be competitive similarly to the Titans,

but I don't think also is going to be all that competitive given the quarterback limitations. It's the New York Giants. I am floored by how much the New York – like I get that they got. Not better, right? They traded a second and fifth round pick for Brian Burns, the edge defender from Carolina. He's a good player. Arguably what? Top 10, top 15 player at his position. But then looking at where they are in terms of Capspace in 2025 and the talent on this roster currently, I don't necessarily understand what window they're maximizing with some of these free agent signings. They got the offensive line better. They added John Runyon, former Green Bay Packers offensive

linemen. They added Germain Illuminaur from Las Vegas Raiders. That's going to be their starting right guard and right tackle possibly. I think Illuminaw and Evan Neal will be competing on that side. They bring it Brian Burns. They swap out Sequoan Barkley for Devin Singletary. I am still worried that it's all for what? I don't see them winning the AFC East. I don't see them being a team that's going to be competitive in the playoffs.

Like, yes, adding talent's good. Your team got better when you add Brian Burns. The reason I'm scared, yes, it's a lot of money and I'm scared, is I just still don't think there is a high ceiling on this team. I don't think that this is a team that's going to be deep playoff competitive. Does it make sense to try and double down on what was objectively and now obviously a bad decision to resign Jones to that contract? Daniel Jones is a quarterback to bring in Brian Burns and to put all this money. When you look at their 2025, they already ranked 23rd in the NFL.

50% of their cap space next year is going to Daniel Jones, Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Darren Waller, and then linebacker, Bobby O'Caricay. I just don't know if it makes sense for their window to be this team that's doubling down essentially on Daniel Jones by surrounding him with talent. Ruiz, what's your reaction to what the Giants have done? I mean, I get what you're saying, and I feel like I've complained about teams doing similar things, about handing out big contracts in situations where they're not in a window where they can contend for a title. But at the same time, like, that could change so fast

and windows open up so much that I can't hate on adding a blue-chip talent. I really think Brian Burns, if used properly as a blue-chip talent, I just can't hate that move. And I know it's a lot of money, and I don't think it's going to lead to any playoff wins. But, hey, maybe in like a year they're going to stumble into a good quarterback and maybe they'll stumble into the next Sean McVeigh at coach. And it will be cool to have Brian Burns on the team.

And now we can go win a Super Bowl. So I just think of the NFL, like the windows are so short, reality's changed so quickly that I'm against like value in free agency. No more talking about value in free agency. Just go get good players. What are you talking about? Go get good players is exactly. what the Titans thought they did this off season.

They literally like, okay, we're going to go get Calvin Ridley. I think Lloyd Cushabary can start for us. Tony Pollard's pretty good. We'll go get good players. And it's all going to be like... None of those guys are Brian Burns, though. None of those guys are Brian Burns. Lloyd Cushabry is not Brian Burns.

Calvin really runs the right route like 80% of the time. And then it all comes back to Willeves, who is worse than Daniel Jones. And then Tony Pollard? Tony Pollard? You're comparing him to Brian Burns. You're trading a second and a fifth round pick. for Brian Burns and the opportunity to pay him this $150 million contract when you are not in a window to compete with this guy's contract.

I get windows change. The window's not changing all that fast for this Daniel Jones contract. And neither really is it for the surrounding talent on this giant's offense. I don't know. My question is, what were they going to do with that money? I hope that they would save it for when they're ready to actually attack a window of competition. That's what makes more sense to me. I don't know.

I'm just, that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. Lindsay, am I right or am I wrong? Can I ask one question? Where does Drew Locke fall into the go-get-good players? I think the vibes are good.

I'm going from like Drew Locke. I'm not a fan of it. Team should not be prioritizing him. I was not high on him in the draft. To like seeing the backpack celebration, I'm kind of in. I'm in on Drew Locke. I think it's a fun locker room guy.

I think the more you can chase vibes, the better you can be. Yeah, I mean, I think that the Giants are ways away from competing. I don't hate them trading for, I don't hate them trading for Brian Burns. It was a completely reasonable deal, reasonable compensation. The Titans win this award. That's right. Fair enough.

And I win this argument. Austin Gale is not in an argument-winning window right now. He shouldn't be. The New York Giants, the New York Giants have spent the second most money of any team in free agency and nowhere near, even sniffing a deep postseason run. But anyway, I love Brian Burns, add good players. Did you want to talk about the Buccaneers, Ruiz, for this reward? Do you think that they've spent good money?

They've resigned a ton of players, brought back Baker Mayfield, brought back Mike Evans, brought back Levante David. I think everyone loves bringing in the homegrown talent, keeping guys around. What's your opinion of the moves that they've made? This is more a rant about the perception around the bucks and, like, their ceiling for next year. Because I don't think, like, any of these moves

they don't move the needle. They don't push them forward, obviously, because a lot of these guys, like you said, they're retaining guys. But, like, Baker Mayfield was talking Super Bowl at his press conference, and I know you do that as a quarterback whenever you sign.

But come on, man. He was talking about it for, like, two minutes straight. And he was bringing up the Super Bowl they won with Tampa Bay. But I'm really shocked by they're not being more pushback or questioning of the Baker Mayfield deal. I don't think he, like,

I know they made the playoffs. I know they won a playoff game against an Eagles team that had quit three weeks before then. but this team was not good. It wasn't a good team. It was a mediocre team. The only reason they were in the playoffs was because the NFC South was so terrible.

But with the playoffs on the line in week 18, the average four yards per attempt against the worst defense in the NFL against the Panthers. And they scored nine points and barely made the playoffs. Like they're keeping a bad offense together, and they're spending a lot of money to do it. They finished like 18th in EPA per dropback last year. They were around that area in total offense.

I know the run game wasn't good, but they've also lost their offensive. coordinator. I think they've lost a lot of pieces while retaining, you know, the bigger pieces, the headline making pieces in Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans, but losing that offensive play calling, I think is going to have a big impact on Baker Mayfield. But I don't think this is like a move to be celebrated. I don't think the bucks are a team that are going to be better than they were last year. I think it's easy to celebrate these moves. And we were talking about this before the podcast reviews, but it's easy to celebrate these moves because they play in the NFC South.

Right. Like we're resigning Baker Mayfield, who is a average player who had a career year under office coordinator, Dave Canales, who's now the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. And we don't know what it's going to look like with a new office coordinator. Like it's easy to celebrate that move when you're trying to win the NFC South. Right now, Kurt Cousins, the Atlanta Falcons are right now the favorite to win that division. But Tampa Bay is well within reach of that. It's a bad division. And when you're looking at other teams and you talk about competitive window, it's harder to see competitive windows for other teams that are working in more competitive visits. divisions, whereas the NFC South is just giving the Panthers, the Falcons, and we're going to talk about the Kirk Cousins contract, obviously, and the bucks like this opportunity to be like, well, you know, we could still win the division. Look at the Saints. Like the Saints is literally their whole thing. It's like, oh, we'll continue to, Derek Carr, why not? We can still win the division with Derek Carr.

They didn't, but it's still kind of like this excuse that they build in. But anyway, I do agree. Titans win this award. It's a lot of money and I'm scared. I'm scared because I don't know what they're doing, right? And I don't really get, you know, doubling down on this. I get what Calvin Ridley's doing. I get what Lloyd Cushenberry's doing.

Tony Pollard, all these guys making a ton of money, but the Titans, this window. I'm not going to say competitive window again on this podcast because Ruiz, you've scarred me. But moving to the next award. I call this one the Dune 2 Award. So essentially the Blockbuster, the best Blockbuster Award. You spent a lot of money, and I'm kind of for it, right?

The movie budget was big. Timothy Chalame costs a lot. Florence Pugh costs a lot. Dedyville and Ave cost a lot. But honestly, you're going to make a pretty good movie. Everyone's going to talk about it. And I'm going to kick things off here. the Texans, their biggest money contract that they signed, I think happened yesterday.

They brought in DeNeil Hunter, the former defense event for the Minnesota Vikings on a two-year $49 million contract, $48 million guaranteed. That extra million he's going to have to earn. 48 million guaranteed, but it's a two-year deal. And I think it's easy to look at this analysis in that they're essentially swapping Jonathan Grenard, the edge defender that signed a four-year $76 million deal. The details aren't out for the Grinard deal for Minnesota. to be like, Jonathan Grinard goes to Minnesota,

Daniel Hunter, who's a little bit older, but I'd argue a little bit better, goes to the Houston Texans. I like this deal. Yes, it's a lot of money. Yes, you're paying him more per year than you would have paid Grinard. Because I do think it fits their,

not their window, their timeline better in that he's going to be off the books by the time C.J. Stroud is sniffing around for what will be another record-setting contract in the quarterback contract business. I really like what they did there. And the other moves,

in addition to adding to Daniel Hunter, De Nico Atri, two years, $20 million, I think it's a budget deal. He's one of the more underrated players in the NFL, defensive tackle. Joe Mixon, trading a conditional seventh-round pick for Joe Mixon to upgrade the running back room. Jeff Akuta on a one-year flyer. Maybe it's an overpay based on draft capital, but I don't care. I do like what the Texans have done because I think they're thinking strategically about when they're going to be competitive. And obviously they have this cheat code in that they know C.J. Stroud is good so they can be a little bit more intentional with where they're spending.

but I am buying the Texans. I'm buying them, even though they spent a lot of money on Deal Hunter. They brought in Al-Ale-Shayor, the linebacker as well. They've spent a lot of money this off-season, but I think they spent it in the right places, and I don't think they overpaid significantly for any of the guys that they brought in. Lindsay, what's your reaction? Houston, are they Dune 2, or is this more of a Madam Webb situation?

Well, we agreed last week that there would be no more of my movie takes on this podcast. And I'm also glad you did not talk about the bucket. Everybody go read Austin Gale's Dune 2 bucket. piece that is on the ringer.com. It is hilarious and horrifying all at the same time. But I think like this goes back to when we were talking over the last couple days offline as we're prepping for this show, I believe it was Connor Nevins, one of our managers here at the Ringer who asked who's the best player on the Texans. And I will tell you that other than C.J. Stroud. And we sat here for a good, I don't know, 15 seconds just staring at our screens

until somebody said Laramie Tunsell. And it was like, oh, yeah, Laramie Tunsell. They have a really, but that just speaks to kind of like where they have been over the last couple years. This has been a team because of the turmoil that they've had in the front office with their quarterback situation, with the coaching turnover, that they've basically been bringing in like mid-tier to low-tier free agents on one-year deals for a very long time. So this roster has just been churning for off-season after off-season where you, they, they,

were not at a point where you could really build anything. And, you know, it's just now getting to that point where you're seeing a core. And if you're a Texans fan, you just have to be encouraged by the fact that now you have multiple good play, you know, the draft picks from last year. Obviously, it was Stroud, Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, where I really like Jonathan Grenard. And I just think that the ceiling maybe is higher just in terms of like upside for a guy like that. But you have a really proven pass rushing talent now. And they're just, just upgrading so many positions of their roster. And I think, I think a lot of these moves are also showing the weight that D'Amico Ryan's has. And, you know, they're finally a team that seems

to be kind of doing things the right way and, you know, building things in a way that should be sustainable. I also feel that Dineal Hunter is a force multiplier for Will Anderson. Will Anderson's able to do with Daniel Hunter opposite of him and adding Dineco Autry is a piece of that. Like, and even thinking, you know, De Nile Hunter has been like a 10 plus sack kind of player for the Minnesota Vikings rushing opposite of DJ Wanham, where like he's going to benefit from having DeNico Atri along that defensive line who they signed to a two-year, $20 million deal. And then obviously the rookie feed on from last year, Will Anderson Jr.

Ruiz, are you as high on how the Texans have approached this off season? Do you still have question marks on where they still need to fill holes and kind of maximize this rookie contract that they do have with CJ Stroud? Or are there other teams that you're putting in the Dune 2 popcorn bucket? No, I think they're my Dune 2 pick. I'm going to go Dune 1. I'm going to pump the brakes a little bit on it. Whoa.

You're anti-Dune 2? No, no. Dune 2 is better, is what I'm saying. I haven't seen either movie, by the way. Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, like, I think this team is going to be, like, in addition to its acquisitions and free agency, I think they're getting their offensive line back, which they didn't have last year because they were hit hard by injuries.

They led the league and adjusted games lost, according to football outsiders. It's not football outsiders anymore. I forget what they changed their name to. But hey, you got to come to me. You got to make me learn your name. But also, like, and I think that's the undersold thing here is like, not only that, but they also kept offensive coordinator Bobby Sloick. So you're getting a lot of retention, and there are a lot of new faces coming into fill holes

and kind of rebuild this defense in the image of Domech O'Ryan's. Because I think we saw kind of like half of what he wanted to build with their defense. and it was good, but it was only around league average. I think this is the year where they can really take the next step. And I think they expect their offense to progress naturally. I know the Joe Mixend deal was one we mentioned, but I don't think that's like a big needle mover for them. But having those young receivers come back from injury,

having C.J. Strau takes the next step. In his second year in this offense, usually when you have this type of breakout, you lose your offensive coordinator, and then you have to bring in someone else, and there's an awkward period. They're not going to have to deal with that. Their offensive line will be better,

so their run game will be better. and now I think you're getting pieces where Damico Ryan doesn't have to do certain things like he doesn't have to blitz on third down to get pressure now. And I think that changes a lot for them on defense and how that defense is called. So I'm not like a huge fan of all these deals,

but I do think Houston's going to be very good next year. Lindsay, are you big on Houston as the Dune 2 award winner here or do you have some other teams in mind? Yeah, I mean, I just, I think like, you know, when we get to this point of free agency, I think is a good time to come. kind of pull back and try to figure out what teams, like what, what are their plans and how do

they see themselves and the way that they're investing their money about what are their needs, where is it worth spending money, what sort of window are they in to steal the phrase here. So I threw two other teams in there that I just think have been interesting that have also spent a lot of money, but in ways that I'm not necessarily scared of like we had just talked about. And the two teams that I was going through all of the numbers here over the last day or so is the Los Angeles Rams. This is a team they've spent nearly $100 million, about $96 million, on three players. That includes Kevin Dotson.

I think he's not counted in those three players. But they've spent a lot of money. Kevin Dotson got a huge deal. And Jonah Jackson got a huge deal. They are going to have like the beefiest offensive line. like we have maybe ever seen. And I just think it's a really interesting. And, you know, Stephen, I think this is something that you'll get to talk about a lot this

off season is like what having that sort of offensive line means for a Sean McVeigh offense and what kind of the Rams are going to look like at this phase of Matthew Stafford's career. But this is a team that like what we discovered from them last year was that they have some really good skill position players that we didn't know that they were going to have. This time last year, none of us. knew about a thing about Puka Nakuwa. So they're in a position where they didn't have to invest necessarily at those spots. And they were able to just go out and, you know, say, fuck them skill position players. And I'm going to invest in like the biggest bodies I can find on the market.

So I thought they were just interesting. And I don't necessarily hate. Those were shocking contracts, right? The Jonah Jackson and the dots and money compared to what he got a season ago or last off season. Those were shocking contracts, but I'm at the point now where I'm willing to give the Rams a lot of benefit of the doubt in the way that they allocate their resources and the way that they want to build their team. And then I would say the one other team that I'll throw out there who spent a lot of money so far is the Green Bay Packers. They're about at $134 million spent in free agency. A lot of that is going to Xavier McKinney, Josh Jacobs, although I think like there's a lot of kind of funny money involved in the Josh Jacobs deal. They very easily could get out of it

without a ton of guarantees, fairly early in that deal. But I just respect a team that is like, yeah, our quarterback is good. And we're going to go for it now and we're going to fill some needs. I really like Xavier McKinney. He's young. The safety market has been weird, but he seemed to be a guy that was worth, you know, out of that safety pool was worth spending money on at a position of need for them. Ruiz, what's your reaction to the Rams moving 2023 second rounder, Steve Avila?

He played guard last year. he's now going to play center. They make the big guards resigning in Kevin Dotson, that's going to be their right guard. They bring in the former Detroit Lions Guard, Jonah Jackson on this bigger deal. What is this saying about what they're trying to do? Or is this just like, we need to upgrade the interior

no matter what we're trying to do? Is this reflective of change and how they're going to approach things offensively? Or is it just like we needed to get better at the interior offensive line for what we were trying to do last year? I think it's a little bit of both. I think we've seen evolution in the run game

since like 2018. I would go maybe maybe 2019 and they're pulling a lot more guards. They're running more concepts. They're not just an outside zone team like they were, an outside zone and duo team like they were, although they still run a lot of duo, but you need mallers to run that type of offense. Like you need guys who can push back the defensive line.

And I think that was a real problem with them, especially in the passing game, like maintaining that pocket for Matthew Stafford, who is, I think he's good at buying himself time, but he's not necessarily as good at extending time. Like he's good at moving guys out of windows in order to avoid a sack rather than getting outside of the pocket and moving a guy out of a window that way.

And you need a good offensive line to do that. And I think one thing this will help them do is they won't have to just roll the ball to Matthew Stafford and say, go get a bucket. He doesn't have to be an isolation score anymore. He can work within the offense. It can be more systematic. There could be more of a run game element to it.

I think if they could build that, this team, this offense can look like what it looked like in 2018 when it wasn't all on the quarterback to be like this wizard in the dropback passing game. It was an offense that Jared Gough could lead. I do think it's underrated what

I think multiple people, you know, Sheel and Solac on the extra point taken episode on this feed on Monday talked about the guard market exploding. A lot of guards getting paid this offseason. I think it's underrated what good guard play could do for the explosive passing attacking. It's specifically

trying to move the ball downfield and hang in the pocket longer for routes to develop downfield. And I think that's obviously what the Rams are going to be able to have with adding this beef along the interior offensive line. I'm also glad, Lindsay, that you brought up the Packers because they don't have the same cheat code that the Texans have and that they have a quarterback on a rookie contract, but they have a good quarterback and going and adding good players like Josh Jacobs on a four-year, $48 million deal, former Las Vegas Raiders running back, safety Xavier McKinney, formerly of the Giants on a four-year, $68 million deal with the Packers. I do think they've done well. But I think the award, the Dune 2,

award still has to go to the Houston Texans. I think the Houston Texans are the right way here. I agree. I agree. I would have had the Rams. They were like my sneaky apple stock pick, but it was more like buying apple stock in like the late 80s because I think they're setting up for life after Matthew Stafford very effectively.

And it's kind of gone on notice. But I do agree. I think the Texans are the pick here. Buying Apple stock in late 80s, though, would have been a monster move, right? I think it's more about like buying Apple stock and maybe like the early 2000s where you're like maybe not seeing as much return. I don't know what reference we're making, but I think, I don't know where I'm at on Apple's talking.

I don't know investments. I don't know finances. I don't know any of that. I'm sorry. Well, we're going to get back to some awards. I want to get into the Kirk Cousins contract. We've got to talk a little Justin Fields. And I have some takes on the Las Vegas Raiders, but let's first, let's take a break. All right. The they can't keep getting away with this award. Part of me wanted to give this to the Eagles, but I'll let Ben Solac and shield Capadia take that on the ringer of Philly special. Go check out that podcast. They added Seekwan Barclay, which doesn't make any sense to me. The Eagles continue to get better. I really like the price up signing. But instead, I'm going to nominate not the Atlanta Falcons for signing Kurt Cousins. I'm nominating Kurt Cousins. This dude is going to finish his career probably with

one career playoff win in four appearances and more than 130 million more dollars in career earnings than Peyton Manning. He has made so much money, fully guaranteed money, two tags with the Washington commanders, multiple fully guaranteed deals with the Vikings. Now he's got a four-year $180 million deal with the Falcons, the first two years of which are $45 million each fully guaranteed. He's 35 years old coming off an Achilles tear. This guy cannot keep getting away with this. People think this is Patrick Mahomes League for winning back-to-back Super Bowls or back-to-back whatever Super Bowls. It's Kirk Cousins League. There's not a better bag-getter than Kurt Cousins. I mean, how does this keep happening? First, how does it happen? How is Kirk Cousins gaming the

system and how do I get involved? Two, and Ruiz, let's start with you. Is this even a good move for the Atlanta Falcons, or is it only good because they're in the NFC South and then now they can win the NFC South? No, I think it's good in a vacuum. I think it's good in a vacuum because you have these young offensive players and you have to get the most out of them. That's one thing they haven't done over the last couple years is get the most out of

these young talents that they should be able to like prop up and be like, look, we've done a good thing. We've built this offense and that hasn't been the case. It's been bad vibes down there over the last years. Marcus Marriota leaving the team in December. Arthur Smith's just general presence around the team was a negative. But I think this is going to work out. And I think they're the clear favorite in the NFC South.

I think they're being talked about as if they're head in head with the Buccaneers. I think they were head and head with the Buccaneers last year. But the Buccaneers kept their quarterback. The Falcons took Desmond Ritter and upgraded him into a possible top 10 quarterback. Now, with the caveat that we don't know what he's going to look like with the Achilles injury and like a lot of the reason why. Kirk has been able to hang on and kind of hang around that fringe top 10 ranking is because he has added more mobility to his game, which is kind of crazy to say about a 35-year-old

quarterback. And that could be affected by an Achilles injury. We don't know. But if Kirk Cousins is the Kirk Cousins we've seen in the last two years, I think this is a smart move. I think he's going to be worth the money. I think Atlanta, they're not going to win a Super Bowl, but they weren't going to win a Super Bowl anyway.

So I think it works out. I want to give this award to Howard Roseman, though. I want to push back against you saying that the Eagles have had a good offseason. This is what the Eagles do every time, whether it's the free agency or the draft. They just sign or draft people that you've heard of. They're like, oh, we're going to draft a bunch of Georgia players that you've heard of. Oh, we're going to sign Sequant Barclay.

And everyone's like, oh, wow, shrewd move. Shrewd move. Oh, they signed Michael Bennett like a couple of years ago. And everyone's like, oh, this is going to make the difference. They're going to go to the – and he had like four sacks. Jalen Carter – Jordan Davis kind of stinks. The people they've drafted from the Georgia defense – They all stink, kind of, except for Jayley Carter.

Stop. Stop. No, I'm not stopping. They do not all kind of stink. They do not all kind of stink. Bryce Huff setting the edge against the run. He's never done it. He's a pass-for-a-st specialist. They're going to have to trade Josh Sweat.

They're going to have to trade Asan Reddick. And I don't know what that defensive line is going to look like. So you're saying... Giving Leonard Dickerson all that money? Is that a smart move? I don't know. I don't know. So you're saying the Eagles glazing is getting out of control.

And it's all just name deals. Name prominence. It's all just people you've heard. of and that's why people love the Eagles. Yeah. And Harry Roseby did this before. He did this in 2017. He even signed the quarterback to a deal that was bad

and that is going to age horribly. He's doing the same thing and he's getting away with it. And there's going to be GM rankings in a couple of weeks when it's the offseason. And everyone's going to have them in the top three and say he's a genius. Enough. Sensational. Lindsay, anything to add to the how do you hate Harry Roseman as much as

Stephen Ruiz does or do you have another team to suggest for this award? No, but I do think Stephen is right in the like the Georgia guys largely have underperformed. I mean, Nekobi Dean is as missing as Kate Middleton at this point. So we're about to see some... They're face Photoshopped actually in the middle of their defense. You just haven't seen it yet. You should see the Nukobi Dean Photoshop I'm cooking up.

But go, keep going. So, yeah, look, I don't know if I'm as far all the way where Stevens at. But I do love, like, sniping Sequin Barclay. I think it's fun. You know, I don't know. if he's going to be great, but just from like a sheer content perspective. And like, you know, Sequin Barclay, here's how to like push Jalen Hurts's butt. Like, I think that'll be just like a fun, a fun little subplot to watch during,

during training camp. It's the Skip Bayless all in comma, my ass tweet that went viral this week. It's actually Saquan Barkley learning how to do the tush push. But I do have my own nominee for the he can't keep getting away with this award. and it's actually for the real big winner of free agency. And that is Super Agent David Moologeta. And this week is, you know, I look, I said we learn a lot about teams plans. We learn a lot about like the hierarchy of the league.

Nobody's had a better week than David. And I just want to read a tweet that he posted on Monday evening. This was at, I believe, 1030 Eastern Time on Monday night. He wrote, I'll take all the sticks and stones because of the. end of the day, my guys won't be taking any else. Today has shown that teams will do its best for them at all times. My guys understand that and move with the same energy, hashtag, secure the bag. And I mean, that is just like alpha energy, a guy who just knew that the cap was going up and his guys were going to cash in. He indeed is representing Calvin Ridley. He posted a screenshot of the

FaceTime with Calvin Ridley as he told Calvin Ridley about the money that the Titans were going to give him. And Calvin Ridley looked rightfully amazed and shocked and excited. But I'll run through a couple of the other guys. He also had Calvin Ridley. He is Christian Wilkins who signed the massive deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. He's got Kenny Moore, the nickel defensive back with the Colts who reset the nickel market. I think he's getting $10 million a year. I think that's $2 million. more per year than any other nickel has ever gotten. He also had Xavier McKinney, who just mentioned from the Packers, among other clients. But he had a very big week. This is, you know, the time where it's the Drew Rosenhouses versus the Jimmy Sexton's and, you know, just the power agents going to bat, you know, or going to battle with each other. And Moologata has come out, reign supreme. And I don't know how he keeps getting away with it, but it's working. And I think part of it is that he gets the NFL insiders to tweet him by name. And then he, you know, he gets the bag for his clients and goes out and brags about it and

rightfully so. Kirk Cousins should start tweeting like David Mulligate. He should start tweeting after he signs a deal, secure them. Can you imagine a team up? What would a Kirk Cousins contract negotiated by Mulligetta look like? Double? Is it double? He'd be the owner of the team.

I mean, I will say credit to, you know, Mike McCartney, who is, you know, Kurt Cousins' agent who has, you know, played this system really well now for several years. True. He just... That's McCartney's Cash Cow, dude. He's been juicing that thing, too. He has made some money off of these Kirk Cousins deals. I mean, they played it really well.

And, you know, like, circling back to Cousins, who I definitely think is the winner of this award, although, you know, I'm partial to my nominee as well. But, you know, so much of it is timing and luck and, like, what the market is. And, like, if this had been a year ago or two years ago, I mean, just the market every year looks a little bit different. And Kirk keeps landing when there are no other good quarterbacks available. And this is also an offseason where there were a lot of teams who needed a quarterback and needed some sort of quarterback upgrade. And he was competing against Baker Mayfield and, like, the corpse of Russell Wilson. Like, it was a good year to be Kirk.

The one thing I will say about Kirk and pushing back against this nomination is, that he does this because he has to do it. Like, I'm sure he would rather just get the Patrick Mahomes deal for 10 years and never have to do this again. Oh, you think he would? You think he'd rather have the 10-year $500 million contract? No, this is what he has to do and he's

absolutely mastered it. You are pushing back on the wrong things. You're hating on Howie Roseman. You're hating on Kurt. You're hating on Kurt Cousins who's like never been a top 10 player. Even in the league he's in now going to have like over $400 million in career earnings.

You're being contrarian, Steve. You're a contrarian right now. No, I'm hating. I'm hating. There's a difference between being contrarian and hating. And I'm hating. Like you said, he's been mediocre and he gets paid like a top 10 guy. We all want that.

We all want that in life. And that's why I'm jealous, okay? I think Kirk wins the award. I think that's the right play. But I am partial to Mulligetta being like a very close second because in Kobe fashion, job's not finished. He's also T. Higgins agent. And T. Higgins, who is on the tag, obviously requests,

the trade from the Cincinnati Bengals. We don't know where he's going to end up, but I think it's expected that he's traded maybe even on draft day for someone at the back end of the first round or the top of the second. And then you know if you're trading for Tia Higgins that kind of capital,

he's going to get a big contract himself and be probably a topshead paid player at the receiver position. So Moologetta, the job's not finished even. He got some of that is like preying on bad teams or like the Raiders giving $85 million and guaranteed by Indichristian Wilkins. We'll get into that later.

Calvin Ridley literally like stealing 50 million from the Tennessee Titans in over two years where maybe they net out 10 wins combined. Part of it's picking on bad teams, the other piece of it is too is just representing good players and having their back. Next award.

I didn't know how to name this award, but I hope the people listening know what I'm talking about. The Woody from Toy Story meme, I'm done playing with you award. Essentially the, it's over. It's been fun while it lasted in my childhood, but I'm kind of done either talking about it. it, being around it, or playing with it, whatever.

Someone nominate someone here. I have someone that I think makes a ton of sense, but I don't know, Lindsay, if you want to start. I'll pick up where you left off. Ruiz, go. Ruiz, go. I'll pick up where you left off. I'm going to go with T. Higgins. Because I think I was, we had a production meeting a couple days ago,

and I was like, I think that's a mistake if they let T. Higgins go. I think I tweeted it out, too. But the reason why I thought that was because you need, like, particular styles of receivers to get the most out of Joe Burrow. Not that he's like, you know, he needs to be propped up or anything. but I think he's a back-shoulder thrower. He's a back-shoulder merchant, and I mean that in a good way. And T. Higgins is the type of receiver that can maximize that skill set.

Now Mike Williams is available. I might be thinking about signing Mike Williams and then flipping T. Higgins for a couple of draft picks now. So that's mine. And it's me. I'm getting tired of T. Higgins, and I'm Andy throwing away the Woody Toy. Mike Williams released from the Los Angeles Chargers today.

Are they a team, Lindsay, that is like kind of a, you know, I'm done playing with Mike Williams. and there were reports that they could be done playing with Joey Bosa, someone that they thought maybe it could be a cut candidate or a trade candidate. I know Keenan Allen was in the mix. They already moved on from Oss and Eccler. Jim Harbaugh there in Los Angeles, what's he cooking? Yeah, I mean, I was looking at them ahead of the 4 o'clock deadline just to see

what exactly they were going to have to do to get under the cap. I mean, they were up against it. And a lot of other teams that already kind of, that were up against the cap had made their intentions clear about, you know, the way that they were going to be clearing space. So yeah, they're going to look different. This is very much Jim Harbaugh's team. But the moves that they made were not as drastic. You know, Keenan Allen still on the roster. Joey Bosa is still in the roster. Cleo Mack still on the roster. I'll be it under a restructured contract. But I would imagine that none of those guys are long for the Chargers. That, you know, they might, they're on the roster now, but I wouldn't feel great. You know, I think these are guys that we're going to be talking about probably up until the trade deadline. And, you know, Harbaugh's. going to continue to remake this roster, you know, in his image, the way he wants to build this team in the weeks and months and years ahead. I would love for you to make your case next, your nominee for this award, out of fear that I will derail this entire podcast once I get to make

my nomination. No, that's fair. I think that just before I do that, one more point on the, the Chargers piece of it, Tom Telesco, just putting the Chargers in just some form of Capel. I can't imagine if he's going to get a job in the NFL soon. Just kidding. He's the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders. No, but there was a tweet. Someone set this out before the new league year that the Chargers had four of the top five or top 10 biggest non-quarterback cap hits before they released. What are we doing here, boys?

What's actually happening with the Chargers cap situation? But my nominee is Justin Fields. I think it's a landslide that he's with. The Bears are so over it and also the entire league. Ian Rappaport multiple times on NFL network, which if you're in a free agency, you probably have this thing on repeat. But Ian Rapport multiple times

throughout the broadcast and the free agency frenzy that they're running is like, yeah, the bears are not engaging in trade talks with fields, which translation means, yeah, no one's calling you on Justin Fields. No one's calling. And like when you see all these spots picked up,

people thought the Raiders, maybe reuniting with offensive coordinator Luke Getzzi, who's now with the Las Vegas Raiders, they end up signing Gardner Minchu to a two-year, $25 million contract. The Atlanta Falcons obviously added Kirk Cousins. the Vikings added Sam freaking Darnold. Like all of these spots that we thought were maybe

Justin Fields could compete to start spots, even the Pittsburgh Steelers who signed Russell Wilson to the veteran minimum. Those are all dried up to a point now where I don't even know if Justin Fields is going to have an opportunity to compete to start in 2024. I think it's more likely that he goes to a place where he's the clear backup. Like I know that some people have tweeted about maybe him going to Philadelphia. It's a team that likes to run a lot of quarterback design runs with Jalen Hertz. another team similarly, Shane Steikins,

Indianapolis Colt with Anthony Richardson, another team that likes to run design runs. Maybe the Giants. I thought the Giants might make sense. I'm not saying he competes to start with Daniel Jones, but when they were at their best before the 2023 season, they had Daniel Jones running a lot. I don't know.

Like toothfold here, Ruiz, let's start with you. Is the league just over Justin Fields and should they be? And then also, what are some landing spots that you think makes sense for them? Like you said, it seems like they are. The league is telling us that they are. But the version of this meme is like instead of the Toy Story Kid throwing away like a lame cowboy doll, he's like throwing away like a PS5. Justin Bills is good. He's not good, but he's a useful football player.

He could run like a 4-3. He could throw the ball 70 yards downfield. He was improving as a quarterback. He's a useful player. And I think the fact that there isn't more interest and yet the bucks are jumping at the chance to give Baker Mayfield $100 million. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't compute in my brain. So I do think the league is done with them, and I don't know why,

but I think some smart team, maybe it's the Eagles, and maybe I'll take back everything I just said about Harry Roseman. Maybe it's like a team like the Ravens who can use some insurance behind Lamar Jackson. Maybe it is the Colts. But I think a smart team is going to sign him as a backup and kind of invest in him and maybe flip him for a draft pick later on. He's a talented player, and if you put him on a good offense with a smart, Mark coach, you're going to get good stuff out of it.

Like, give him to Kyle Shanahan. That's what I want to see. Give him to Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan, give him to Shaw McVey and let me see what they do with him. Wow. San Francisco 49ers make a trade for Justin Fields. That would be very interesting. Lost Sam Donald and Minnesota Vikings, I'm kind of getting interested.

Lindsay, any thoughts on Justin Fields or who do you want to nominate this? Yeah, no, I mean, I just think that, like, it was one of the most intriguing things coming out of the first couple days of free agency to me, especially on Monday as like quarterback holes were getting filled fairly quickly from the teams that could have been interested and like could have been, you know, landing spots that made sense. But I do think this is a lot of like schematic fits and the teams that needed quarterbacks were not immediately, you know, didn't have coordinators or head coaches who were an immediate connection or obvious connection to the way that Justin Fields wants to play. And I think that is in some cases lazy, right? Like if there's

a talented player, you figure out how to make it work. The timing now becomes really interesting because if you, you know, we remember back to just a couple weeks ago in Indianapolis, Ryan Poles said, I believe that, you know, without saying we're trading Justin Fields, everybody knew they're trading Justin Fields. Ideal situation was that it would be able to get done ahead of free agency. Clearly, that has not happened yet. The other kind of, you know, notable soundbite out of that was that he wanted to do the right thing by Justin. And now, you know, you really have to run under what is the right thing by Justin?

Is it staying in Chicago, getting a chance to get moved later after the draft when, you know, there's going to be a couple teams that are left out of the draft quarterback carousel who have not landed a guy? Is it waiting until, you know, August, September, October, when inevitably there will be a couple of teams that, you know, have a need at quarterback. But yeah, I mean, it's a bummer for Justin Fields for sure. You know, I'm sure Ryan Poles is really disappointed that he has. has not been able to, you know, make this move yet.

So, yeah, I mean, I definitely think this is, it's going to be one of the lingering storylines and more intriguing kind of just things that's an undercurrent for the rest of this offseason and draft season. Do we give it to Justin Fields? Do we give it to? Well, okay. So look, at the risk of like completely derailing this and just destroying all of your rubrics, which is basically my goal as we were talking about all of these awards, was like, how can

mess up what Austin wants to do. I am done playing with and talking about Aaron Rogers. I done. D-O-N-E, done, done, done. He is now political journalism's problem. We are out. Like out. I'm just, I'm over it.

So obviously, if you haven't heard the news, the new news about Aaron Rogers, who I was just like, I had resolved to not talk about this guy until like middle of July when there were football reasons to do so. the New York Times reported on Tuesday that he is like on the short list and is welcoming overtures from RFK Jr. to be the running mate on the independent ticket for vice president. I have a friend who works at the Times as a political reporter who texted me about 10 minutes before the story dropped and said,

heads up, NFL, NFL world, you might want to get ready for this. And sure enough, it is now kind of taken off. And literally as we started recording this podcast about 45 minutes ago, So CNN reported a story, CNN political journalism that multiple people said that he is a like Sandy Hook denier. So I am just done with Aaron Rogers as like a guy that we talk about down in the NFL space. Like this is a guy who, what, two months ago said he wants no distractions, anything that doesn't have to be winning needs to be flushed out of their building. I'm sorry. Well, he's winning the presidency, okay?

he's chasing a win in the presidency or whatever. I guess I misspoke at the top of this podcast. Nora Prunziati is not Robert Kennedy Jr. is running me. It's actually Aaron Rogers. And I'm going to push back. I'm not done playing. The content always wins. I'm here for it.

I'm here for Aaron Rogers. This is how we ended up with Donald Trump. We are not doing this. We are not. And look, Aaron Rogers, if, lest he start taking shots at the ringer, you know,

he's already engaged. with people who are ringer and Jason, he doesn't mind taking shots here. But look, he's a conspiracy theorist, right? At this point, like, he bought into the Super Bowl logo thing. He bought into that. Oh, my God. Easily debunkable Super. This is a headline in 2024 are meeting the CNN thing you mentioned. RFK Jr.'s VP prospect, Aaron Rogers has shared false Sandy Hook conspiracy theories and private conversations. This is insane. Absolutely insane that this is happening. Look, he's, like, he wants attention all the time, gets mad when he gets attention that he doesn't want,

even though he really wants the attention. And I think he's pretty soft and not as a football player. I think he's been extremely tough throughout his career, but he is soft when it comes to criticism. And good luck with the political journalism world, buddy, have at it. Can't wait. You are You've been quiet. You've been quiet, are you an RFK Jr. voter or where are you at? No, no. Let me put that on record.

I will not be voting for RFK Jr. I will not hear out his political stances. That's the downside is we have to hear more about Aaron Rogers' politics. But unfortunately, I have to agree with Austin on this one because the content wins out and it's going to be good. I'm going to get to laugh at Aaron Rogers even more than I already do. if more of Aaron Rogers' conspiracy theories come to light out of this, I don't see the loss necessarily.

Now, if he's some piece of running the country, that's where I'll say a firm apology to you, Lindsay, and that maybe I've driven some of this and that I'm not done playing with the content that's going to come out of it. Back to football, though. Let's get back to football and talk specifically about my next award here. I call it the What Are They Cooking Award, where a team that I want to nominate a team that I just don't really get

why they're doing it or what they're doing and what the vision is, what the plan is, what is in the pot that they are cooking. And we'll start with my team. The Las Vegas Raiders, if those who don't know, born and raised season, taken hold with my dad for 10 years, back in the Oakland Coliseum. I don't get it.

I don't know, right? Christian Wilkins, that's their big kind of monster signing that they've made. It was a four-year deal, $85 million guaranteed, $110 million overall. I'll say this, first and foremost, Christian Wilkins, elite player, top five player. When you look at historically in free agency, where teams have actually been able to bring in players and see success on new teams in new defenses

or even new schemes. Defensive tackle has been one where teams have been consistently rewarded. I think the Raiders will be rewarded by the Wilkins signing in terms of he's going to be a good player. He's going to be a force multiplier for Max Crosby. It's going to make a strength, a strength. Over the second half of the season, essentially eight game, nine games that they played

after Josh McDaniels was fired, this was the second ranked defense in points allowed per drive under Patrick Graham. I think Christian Wilkins helps a strength. It helps that defensive line and it's going to help a defense. That is 100% true.

When you pair that move with also signing Gardner Minchu to a two-year $25 million deal, which is essentially a bridge quarterback deal. It's the same kind of contract. Andy Dalton signed in Chicago before they drafted a guy. Mr. Trisky signed in Pittsburgh before they drafted a guy by Glennon, et cetera, et cetera.

It's exactly the same kind of contract where we're telling you to your face, Gardner Minshu, you're a plan B. Our plan A is to go get a guy. high in the draft, and this is where I don't get it, right? Like that in a vacuum, you bring in Wilkins, make the defense better, he's a good player, he's on the market, let's go. You bring in Gardner-Minchu, he's a plan B,

where if we don't land the guy we want in the draft. What's frustrating is that they are last fiddle in a long line of teams that need quarterbacks. When you think about the Bears at 1, the commanders at 2, the Patriots 3, very likely all three of those picks are quarterbacks. Even if the commanders are Patriots trade out, I don't think they do. They're going to be quarterbacks. Then you have the Broncos at 11, the Vikings at 12, and the Raiders then at 13.

So if the Raiders are going to go get their guy, they're going to have to trade future capital for what is a bad roster. They don't have a really good offensive line. They don't have good outside corners. And they're going to be trading up for what? At best, the QB3, if they get all the way up to three to go get Jaden Daniels or Drake May. Or at best, maybe the QB4, J.J. McCarthy, who I think most evaluators aren't even sure he's a top 10 type of prospect.

or worst-case scenario, they can't get Daniels, they can't get May, they can't get McCarthy, they end up trading back maybe into the first round to go get Bo Nix of Oregon or Michael Pennix of Washington, that to me screams, what are you doing? You do not want to be the team that's like, oh, if we can get this guy, we'll get this guy, it's like the opposite of how you want to do quarterback evaluation in the draft. Oh, well, we want to get Jay and Daniels to reunite him with Antonio Pierce, who coached him at Arizona State, but if we can't, we'll get J.J. McCarthy, but if we can't do that, we'll go-go-O-Nix.

That's not how you evaluate the quarterback position. That's not going to work for me, kid. I am out on this. I think Christian Wilkins to make some better. Gardner-Mitchie is a tough, gritty player, that locker room is going to be all vibes. Antonio Pierce, all vibes. I don't understand going all-in this quickly.

Antonio Pierce, the new coach. Tom Telesco, the new GM. We've already talked about his failures in Los Angeles. I don't understand going all-in this quickly. When the roster isn't even there yet offensively, I know I like Jacoby Myers, I like Devonti Adams, Michael Mayer, the second-year tied-in of Notre Dame. I think they have some pieces there.

Offensive line's not good enough. Defense still needs, I think, yes, is a strength, but I think the corner situation is dropped. I don't know. I just don't necessarily understand. Without a clear option at quarterback, I know they're going to try for one, but like even a clear path to getting one, I don't know if I necessarily think it's the right move for the Las Vegas Raiders. Someone talked me off this ledge.

I'm already starting to burn jerseys over here. I'm going to push you off the ledge, actually, instead of talking you off of it. This is, are you not, do you not know Tom Telesco? Like, this is what he does. This is, he just throws money at people. and hopes it works out. And like, it's going to be very hard to convince a GM who

was fourth in line for a quarterback, or third in line, I think, and then fell into Justin Herbert in the draft. It kind of worked out for him the last time he was in this similar situation. And he ended up with maybe the best quarterback from that group. I know that's a statement

that everyone wouldn't agree with. But it's bad. And it's, I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to this. I think they saw that Christian Wilkins was a good player. And they were just like, let's just throw money.

at him and see if he comes here. Looking at the Rosson, like that's the only thing that makes sense. I do, like, this is one of those situations where I think like the signing is fine in a vacuum, but I agree with Austin where like if this is the plan is to just have a quarterback fall into your lap this year, it's not going to work out. Like if they are just playing the long game and they're like, okay, we're going to, we're going to be bad this year anyway. We're going to just, you know, not tank, but still try to be competitive, but not try our best

to win. And then a quarterback falls into their lap next year in the draft and they can trade up. then I think it works out. But if their plan is to take the fifth best quarterback in this class, then the next five years are going to be just terrible. There's two things off of this. And Lindsay, I want you to nominate a team or push me further off the ledge.

I think that the go get good players thing. And I think this is even a worse situation than where Tennessee is with some of the signings that they made, because they're like saying, hey, we're going to bring in some talent. Yeah, we're probably going to go overcomit. Some of these guys are going to be trade candidates slash restructures in the future, but we're going to do it with the hopes that we can,

develop Will Levis, who's already on our roster and we want to continue to develop. The Raiders, I don't think have that expectation with Aidan O'Connell or Gardner-Minchu. They're saying, we're going to bring in this talent. Yes, we're going to double down on this with the hope that we get our guy in the draft, picking 13th behind the Broncos who need a quarterback, behind the Vikings who need a quarterback, behind the commanders and the Bears and the Patriots. That's where it doesn't add up. If they were picking second or third, it starts to make way more sense.

It's like, oh, you clearly see the vision. They're preparing a Drake May or Jaden Daniels to come in. Now, that gets into the conversation of like, what's it going to cost them to go up from 13 to 2 or 13 to 3? At least two future first and some additional capital beyond that. Is that what this team should be doing with a Tom Telesco GM, who's proven he can't do it, with Antonio Pierce, a first year head coach who's never, like, obviously he was interim head coach last year.

But, like, I don't know. I feel like it's an overly aggressive move for a coach that obviously wants to be aggressive. and a team that has had, I mean, the most head coaches hired of any team this millennium, full stop. Like they are a team that has had turnover after turnover after turnover, going balls to the wall, all aggressive, swing a bat. It works only if this quarterback they pick works.

And they might not even get their pick of the litter. That, I don't know, man. I keep talking myself even further out of it. Lindsay, help me out here. All right. So here's my devil's advocate view. And, you know, okay. So one, I think that one, Antonio Pierce would have to have

have some sort of like long-term job security, which I'm not confident in saying that he does, given exactly what you just said, the turnover that they have had here. But the Christian Wilkins signing in particular is going to make the Raiders the most annoying front seven, like the most annoying defensive line. And I do think that there's an element of when you hired Antonio Pierce, it was so much about like the attitude and like what it means to be a raider and like reestablishing like the raider way. You know, Antonio Pierce is from L.A. He grew up a Raiders fan like wearing Raiders clothes, driving to the Coliseum, you know, all of those sorts of things. Like he has made that very clear that like, while he didn't play there, like he is a raider and like knows what it means to be like that style of a raider.

And I think a lot of it is like reestablishing that sort of identity of like we're going to be some like bad boys. We're going to like be nasty. We're going to annoy the shit out of Patrick Mahomes as much as we can. And I would just formally like to request that both Christian Wilkins and Max Crosby are miced up for every single game. And we just get the unedited like I, you know, put it on like NFL NFL films plus like the uncensored. version because that will be fun as hell to listen to. I do think that the way you convince yourself that this is good and positive and exciting if you're a Raiders fan is that something that you could immediately see when he became

the interim head coach is that they had an identity, right? They had an identity that like wasn't just like, we suck. Like the Raiders for the better part of the last two decades are like the only thing people know about them is that they're not good. Antonio Pierce created this like identity of toughness, greediness, loud, exciting, Raider Way, smoking cigars in the locker room. And I think Gardner-Minchu can be a part of that, right?

He's a guy who hammered his own hand to try and get a redshirt ear and play more football. Christian Wilkins, in the mic'd-up moments and even not in the mic'd-up moments, I think is a very tough, loud, vocal player that I think they want in that locker room. And they're not instantly building a competitive team. They're third in the division in terms of odds to win the AFC West.

They're always going to be competing with Justin Herbert and Patch from Holmes. They're, I think, fourth in the AFC in terms of odds to win the conference. Like they're not a team that's going to be immediately like win-loss competitive. There is a version of this team that's immediately just cool. And there's a culture that people like. And like here's best case scenario, I think, with what they've done. Say they do add bonics or pennix or even J.J. McCarthy. They aren't able to crawl all the way up into the top three.

If they're like the Steelers last year where like every single time they're competitive out, their phone on defense, good on defense, but their quarterback situation still isn't figured out, that is awesome for Raiders fans because they have not had that. A team that's competitive in and out winning eight, nine games a year is not something that they've been really even for the last 20 years.

I do think that there's wins in that. The reason it's frustrating in Pittsburgh is that they haven't won a playoff game in quite some time. They're a team that wants to be more than what they are and it's getting a little bit old that they're only winning nine games in the post-Rothlessberger era.

I think for the Raiders, that is a step in the right direction. I just worry that it's a team that's still going to be one that's winning eight, nine games a year for the formidable future until, or the foreseeable future until obviously a more significant move is made at quarterback. All right, let's get off the Raiders. Talk to me about some other teams that you feel that you're asking questions on what they're cooking. Ruiz, you want to talk about the Jags? I feel like the Jags are a team where you look at what the Texans done, they're like, we have a quarterback, we have talent, we should take advantage of it.

And then you look what the Jags have done, we have a quarterback. He's good. We should take advantage of it. I don't see the vision with the Jags. I don't know what they're cooking. No, I don't know what it is either. Like I thought, I think the plan was to bring Calvin Ridley back and to have him like spearhead the receiving core,

have Gabe Davis be more of a role player. But now we're heading for a scenario where Gabe Davis is like wide receiver one maybe outside of Christian Kirk, who's a slot receiver. So for like all intensive purposes, Gabe Davis is your number one outside receiver. And the reason why this team has had trouble like pushing the ball down the field in past years wasn't necessarily because of the, the receiving court, although I do think that played a part in it.

They didn't have an offensive line. They didn't have a run game. And that's not being addressed. I know they've made some acquisitions, but these aren't like blue chip players. And that's kind of been par for the course for this team in this front office since he, since Balke wrestled control away from Urban Meyer is paying a lot of money for a lot of mid, a lot of just like average talent. Like I think Christian Kirk worked out.

That deal has worked out over the first two years. but you're still paying a premium for it. And, like, teams win by getting production like that out of value, and they're just not getting that on offense. They're not getting the benefits of having Trevor Lawrence on a rookie deal. And I don't think they're going to have that benefit throughout his time on this rookie deal. Because they got one more year left before they have to pay them. And that it's over.

And now it makes me one, this, you know, they seem to have gotten played today by the whole Calvin Ridley thing. like they had really been banking that he was going to come back. I think we should also remember that they franchise tagged Josh Allen. So that's kind of a messy situation there. And like, could they have gotten that deal done earlier and, you know, maybe spend their money a little bit more wisely? But yeah, it's a rough, you know, it's a rough thing. Because now they're barreling towards an extension for Trevor Lawrence,

having really gotten nothing out of this rookie contract window from him. and it's going to get harder the second that he agrees to New Deal. And that's got to be coming fairly soon. I do think the one positive from this maybe is that ownership finally sees Balki's plans, like falling through almost in every case. Like even the trade for Ridley didn't really work out like he was supposed to work. Yeah, obviously they don't get the extension done. He's like a guy, like what is he cooking?

Like he's like a guy who's like telling him he's going to cook this great meal. But like his meat guy is going to come through at the last minute and deliver the steak at the end. My meat guy, just trust me. Trust me. My meat guy is going to come through. And then 8 o'clock comes and the meat guy never came. That's Trent Falky. That's what he's always good when always good when the positive of your free agency or your offseason is that ownership can see that it's not working. But I agree with you. I think your criticism that they spend a lot of money on not a lot of like legitimate needle moving talent. And I think I'm bringing out the Raiders again, but going back to the Raiders like that's not the problem

there. Like bringing Gardner-Mitchell on that deal is not fine. Bringing Christian Wilkins, who's like an elite player, top five player, it is a business. position is good. With the Jags, they're spending a lot of money on players that aren't needle-moving talents like Christian Wilkins. Three years, $39 million for Gabe Davis. A three-year contract for the safety from Green Bay, Darnell Savage. You bring in Devin Duverney on a two-year deal,

Mitch Morris on a two-year deal. It's a lot of money. And then you add in the fact that they lost Calvin Ridley, it's a lot of money that's not necessarily like moving the roster or propelling the roster forward. Lindsay, are you sticking with the Jags here? Are you adding another team in a mix? No. So I'm going to add one more team. The team that I, like, have been kind of most interested in what is their offseason going to look like?

What is the next evolution of this team that I've been on since February 11th? At about midnight after they, you know, soaked to themselves in beer and confetti is what are the Kansas City Chiefs cooking? Obviously, so what they've done so far is they got the deal done with Chris Jones. It was a very big money deal. It's a long deal, but functionally three years. going to get him for the first three years into his 30s. Thrilled he's back. He's one of my favorite players to watch.

They would not have won any of their three Super Bowls without him, just in terms of the way that he is such a clutch player in the postseason. He's made a case, I mean, I think three years ago when they beat, or four years ago when they beat the Niners, to be MVP of that game. I mean, he is, as clutch as they come, as important to the fabric of that organization. and that winning culture as Mahomes and Kelsey are. They franchise tagged Legerius Sneed. What they have not done is one trade Legerius Sneed yet.

So I'm very curious what's going to go on there. But this offense has to continue to evolve. They cannot keep getting away. Maybe I should have put them in this other category. They can't, I don't think they can keep getting away with winning the way that they won this year. I think they ended up, you know, stumbling into a formula that worked. late in the season. But I just keep waiting. I'm like refreshing Twitter X, whatever we want to call it, to be like, when are they signing a receiver? What is the plan here? Are we going to be waiting

until they're picking at number 32 in April to see that they've, you know, they've drafted a receiver? This is a really deep class, a lot of, you know, really good receivers. But I am just very interested to see what are they doing to, look, their Super Bowl window is going to be open for as long as Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback. The other thing that they have done is he restructured his deal to free up more money. He's getting some more money right away. They've got more cap space. So I just want to know what is the next step of this plan. There are a couple of wide receivers who are still out there as we're recording Hollywood Brown is maybe the most intriguing option just in terms of like the profile of receiver that he is, the Hollywood Brown is. But I'm just so curious. And I just want to know what Brett

Beach is sitting there in the office, figuring out, like, you know, what the free agent market looks like, what Andy Reid wants. Because right now, their offense looks basically the same as the one that somehow managed to win the Super Bowl, despite having, like, the worst receiver core that we've ever seen. I feel like there's still so many dominoes to fall with them, right? Are they trading legurious need? Are they keeping him on the tag? Are they a player for T. Higgins and the trade request out of Cincinnati? Now that Mike Williams has been released, is he is someone that's in play for them? Markies Brown, I think right now,

consensus is probably the best receiver available, though Mike Williams is obviously good. There's also Tyler Boyd, the former Cincinnati Bengals receiver. Curtis Samuel is out there. But I don't, like, Curtis Samuel's not moving the needle. Okay, we need, we need like impact players. I want to see them go get Mike Williams or go get T. Higgins. I'm not as high on Marquis Brown, but like going to get a guy.

Mike Williams who has killed the Chargers. Yeah. Mike Williams, who has like been a chief killer multiple times, that would be, that would be really fun. Assuming you can stay healthy. Yeah. I'm going to force the Raiders to win this one because I'm just pissed. I'm just pissed.

I just don't get upset. And like, can you guys just appease me here while we're on the Raiders? And I know I mentioned that their last fiddle. But now that like a lot of the dust has been tampered with or AKA settled on free agency, where do we think these quarterbacks are going? Can we do a little quarterback matchmaker kind of thing here? Like, where do we think Caleb Williams is going? Where do we think Jane Daniels or Drake May is going?

and then I guess like where does everyone else fall out? Where is Bo Nix? Where is Pennix going? Where is JJ McCarthy? Like are their dream fits here? Let's start with kind of the top three, right? The Bears, commanders, Patriots. Are we all kind of an agreement that it's going to be Caleb,

some version of May, Daniels, Daniels May? Is that like kind of where we stand? Yeah, I think it's definitely Caleb QB1 and I would go, I still think Drake May goes second, but I know there's some talk about that. And I don't think Jaden Daniels gets past third. So I think those three are locked in for the most part. And those are going to go, pander, bears, commanders, Patriots,

unless one of those two teams trade out. But given what we've seen, Mack Jones traded away from the Patriots to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't think the Patriots want to go into next year just with Bailey Zappy. I think they're going to stay put and take the QB3 in this class. They signed Jacobi Bresset. I don't know. Who's a perfect bridge quarterback there? Yeah, perfect bridge quarterback.

That's true. I mean, maybe I still think that they take a quarterback at three and like stay put there. I think the commanders obviously really want to take a quarterback there at two. And I think they'd be foolish to pass up on. Drake May there at two personally. So then after that, where is the dream fit for J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix, Bo Nix? How does this all shake out? Which teams do you think they're going to? Lindsay, you start. All right. Well, I mean, I think the J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota smoke is building a lot.

Stephen, you wrote about the Vikings and kind of where they go now after losing Kirk Cousins. So is that what you think as well? What's your fit for the Vikings? Yeah, because I feel like they're the destination you want to land with if you're one of these quarterbacks. Like they have a decent offensive line. They have the weapons, obviously, with Justin Jefferson. And JJ McCarthy just seems to fit that offense so well. Like, he ran a similar offense. It was a similar setup with what he was asked to do at Michigan.

And I think the coaching staff there has appreciation for that type of quarterback, a play action quarterback. A quarterback who would fit in like a Shanahan-McBay style of offense. They really loved Kirk. So it just makes too much sense for that not to be the matchup. I really think the Raiders fall in love with a guy like Pennix. And I think they could reach for a guy. I know, I know. It would be a bad deal.

But I could see myself. I mean, I could see them convincing themselves that that would be a good pick. I'm buying the J.J. McCarthy viking smoke. I think that it makes sense. I think that it's somewhere where even J.J. McCarthy would want to end up. Vikings or the Broncos are drafting right ahead of them. And I would not be surprised if J.J. McCarthy is in play for the Broncos as well. So if the Vikings are going to go get J.J. McCarthy or say the Raiders are going to go up and try and go get J.J. McCarthy.

They are going to have to trade up and make that play. I ultimately think that it's more likely the Broncos get J.J. unless the Vikings sweep up and go trade up for him. It's going to be J.J. McCarthy to one of the Broncos or Vikings. And then from there, a bidding war between either the Raiders, the Vikings and the Broncos for, Bownix, who I think is a top of day two type of talent and Pinnix, who I think is worse than Bonex in terms of a prospect, but still a top of day two talent.

Those are going to be the quarterbacks going into next year. We're like, Sean Payton had that whole quote about, you know, we want to make sure the next guy we bring in isn't someone they're crossing off the back of the jersey. I don't know, man. And then with the Raiders, I mean, you've seen taking a day two quarterback and seeing how it works play out, literally the last time with Derek Carr and all that,

went with that and while he was there. So I'm worried. I'm worried about the QV matchmaker. All right, let's take a break, hit on a couple more awards and then get out of here. The Pump the Breaks Award. This is either you're pumping the brakes

because everyone loves their free agent moves and you kind of want to hate on it or you're pumping the brakes because everyone hates the move and you kind of want to throw it some love. And I'm going to go ahead and start. Hear me out. Hear me out. I know we've been hating on the Panthers.

I know that there are rumors. there are echoes of saying we're going to stop pounding. We're not going to keep pounding. Like, is it, they are a disaster. The Brian Burns trade is a disaster. Like, losing Brian Burns, a phenomenal talent in this league for just a second and a fifth round pick is a disaster. But looking at the signings, yes, they overpaid.

They gave Robert Hunt $100 million. They gave Damien Lewis a ton of money, a contract they can't get out of for two years. They gave Josie Jewel of all linebackers a two or three-year contract. A. Sean Robinson, who's older than six, a two-year kind of, like, they've given a lot of money out, but like, is it all that bad to pay a lot of money to try and aggressively improve this roster when, like, you have to figure out if Bryce Jones the guy, adding Robert Hunt, adding Damien Lewis, adding in a late pick-swap trade,

Deontay Johnson, the former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver, those three moves. Throw out Josie Joel, throw at Ashall Robinson. I hated that. Throw out the Brian Burns thing. You have to kind of give me a great assault here. But like adding Hunt, adding Lewis, yes, overpaying them. On second look, I went back and looked at the contract and the details. Those deals are gross. They can't get out of the Robert Hunt deal until after 2026, but still, part of me is like,

you're in this ditch. You got to try something, right? Like, not just lay in it because, like, Bryce Young did not look good last year. You probably need to throw the kitchen sink at improving the offense around him to make this work. I guess I'm just like pumping the brakes on the Panthers just having the worst offseason of all teams. I think everyone's kind of putting them as this biggest loser.

My pumping the brakes nomination is I'm pumping the brakes on you for this take because it's a terrible take. No, it's bad. Everything is bad. There's no way to spin this into a good thing. And to answer your question, the thing they have to do is be adults

and grow up and look at the tape last year and be like, we don't have a quarterback who's good. And I don't think he's going to be good. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It doesn't. You're spending a lot of money. Again, you're like taking the Jaguars approach.

But the Jaguars have a good quarterback in Trevor Lawrence. You don't even have that. Like, it's bad. Stop pounding. That's what they need to do. That's been the problem. They haven't stopped pounding since Cam Newton.

They haven't started pounding since Cam Noon. Stop going, stop trying to go seven and ten every year. Stop trying to go eight and nine every year. And once they do that, I think they'll be better off. But like, this off season has just been more of the same, just terrible. Lindsay, talk to me. Are we stop pounding? Are we keep pounding?

Do you think the Panthers deserve all the hate that they're getting, I don't know, I'm just trying to shine some positive light. I don't know. They were like the loser of the first day, right? When they, you know, they really sold low on Brian Burns. I think some of the other moves that they've made since are the sign of a team that, one, has a new general manager and two has been, you know, one of the worst teams in the NFL for multiple years in a row. And what happens when you're a bad team for multiple years in a row is you have to overpay and spend a lot of money. You just, you have to. You have to. to take shots.

And we'll see if any of these work. I don't hate the Deontay Johnson. I don't hate that. I just don't think it moves the needle. I don't think he's a receiver that elevates his quarterback. I think he's a receiver that needs a quarterback to elevate him. Like, what did he do for Kenny Pickett? And here's the fucked up thing, man.

Kenny Pickett is better than Bryce Young. And that hurts. Damn it. Wow. It's dark. Dark place right now. You saying out loud that they need to just admit that Bryce Young isn't good after one year and not even try all this stuff,

not even try building up the offensive line and bringing it Deonté Johnson to give him a fair shake is probably the real estate you can have. I want there to be more optimism. And also part of this, and I think this is part of the reason I'm there, is like, you're right that it is a new GM coming in for Carolina.

It's not Scott Bitterer or it is Dan Morgan. And there's a part of me that's like, it's not your fault. You know, it's not your fault, Dan. It's not your fault. It's not your fault that you're here. And then you have to overpay for Robert Hart because no one wants to play for your poverty franchise.

I don't know. I'm just trying to shed them a bone. I mean, Lindsay, what's your nomination? Steven's like me. Pump the brakes on me and I'm on the Panthers. Where are you at? Yeah, I've been pumping the brakes on the Russ Wilson to Pittsburgh thing, I think, for a couple of days. And maybe that's just because one of our lovely editor-in-chief of the ringer, Ben Glickman, is from Pittsburgh. So I've been spending a lot of time with the last couple days talking to him about Russ as he's been trying to, by, you know, convince himself that this is going to be a great move. And like, look, financially, fantastic. No notes. Getting a quarterback who has a track record of winning in this league when your

offense has been so bad. And, you know, the last year, the Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubesky, Mason Rudolph, roller coaster was no fun for anybody to watch. Even though they somehow made the playoffs, I've largely memory holds that that happened. But look, I live in Denver. I've kind of had a front row seat to the Russell Wilson experience over the last two years. And, you know, I would love for it to work out for the Steelers. I would love for it to work out for Russell Wilson. But the reality was that it was like on a down-to-down basis over the last two years.

Even last year when like the numbers were looking better, this didn't look like a guy who was going to be a franchise changing type of, type of move. And, you know, I think that there's a lot of kind of sense in Pittsburgh of like things have been really bad. it can't be worse than it's been here. I just wonder, could you have done something different? Like, is this the best you could do was paying $1.2 million for a very limited version of Russell Wilson with big questions about how he's going to fit into an Arthur Smith, Arthur Smith offense? That's where I struggle, though, with, like, what else could they have done? I don't know.

I feel like I watched Ben Solac his play sheet on the Ringer YouTube. channel today. I encourage everyone to check it out. And he talks a lot about how throw the $1.2 million dollar vet minimum deal out. Like Russell Wilson isn't good. Like he did not play well last year. This is not quarterback you want on your roster, period, full stop. Forget the name. Forget the contract. Forget the value. And like, I can get there. But also it's like, I don't know if we wanted another year of Kenny Pickett either. I don't know. I think that it's hard to pass up the value. And then you think about, you know, Arthur Smith and him did spend six hours together in a meeting. A lot can happen in a six hours Zoom meeting or maybe

this thing. I think it was in person, actually. A lot can happen in a six-hour meeting. We all saw him flying through Newark Airport on his way to Pittsburgh Gap. He made it very clear that he was going to be there in person. I had two more things, and we can move through these quickly. I had a fun to watch, aka Fast and Furious, like a guilty pleasure movie that you know is

bad, and like, why is that car hooked up to a tank being swung up on a helicopter? And I feel like, I don't know if you guys had nominations for this, but I had two. Derek Henry to the Ravens, right? Maybe it's not like this massive needle mover. He's not the same running back he was two, three, four years ago,

but still like Derek Henry in a Ravens uniform just looks right. I'm just excited to watch it. I don't care that they've made Fast and Furious 10. I'm ready to watch 11. I'll continue to watch them. And then the other fun to watch when I wanted to nominate and kind of hear your guys's thoughts on,

Sam Donald to Minnesota, if they don't bring in a guy, you know, like it's less so like the fast and furious thing and more like cocaine bear or Shark Nato and that like this is maybe the worst movie I've ever seen, but I might still watch it just because it's kind of fun. I don't know. Are you guys in on these signing? Where are you guys at? Is it more just fun to watch?

Or is there some substance to Derek Henry to Baltimore? I think there's substance in Derek Henry, Baltimore. If you look at his underlying metrics, and like after contact, only Christian McCaffrey had more yards than him last year. And he averaged like he was top 10 in yards after contact. He reached 22 miles per hour on one run. So he still has some jets in him. I think he's a good player.

And I think he adds something to the team where he can like still hit the home run for Baltimore, but he has that bruising style where he's hard to tackle. And like a lot of the defensive reactions to play in Lamar Jackson has been to put speed on the field, put defensive backs on the field. Good luck doing that with Derek Henry's on the field. He's going to stiff arm them into hell.

Sam Darnold, I think, is like more of the, you know, like you said, Shark Nato type deal, like, where like, ah, it could be fun, but this is going to, this is going to suck. This is going to suck. Yeah, this is going to be terrible. This is going to be real. Sam Darnold is the Gen Z Sam Bradford, where like, you could put together a highlight tape where you're like, oh, look at

this guy. He's got a lot. First round pedigree, top three pick. The Vikings did this literally with Sam Bradford, and Biden talked themselves into it. They do have a good infrastructure, so I think it could look fine with Sam Darnold. But, like, in the end, it's not going to work out Sam Darnock. I mean, I think Derek Henry is the clear, the clear right choice here. And, I mean, I was going through, like, all, you know, all of the deals that had been agreed to since Monday and signed today. And, like, it was not a great class for, like, skill position, players, like guys that we're going to be like turning on Red Zone on Sundays to watch. And Derek Henry is just going to look really, really cool.

And it's going to make every snap. Every red zone snap that the Ravens have is going to be really fun. So I think that's the clear winner. Fire up, Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift and tell me you're not having a good time. Okay, I get that it's a little played out in terms of the plot, but you're having a good time. Fast X, you're having a good time. That's what we're going to see with Derek Henry in Baltimore. As for Sam Darno and Minnesota, you see the trailer of Cocaine Bear?

You're like, okay, I'm interested. Then you watch the full movie. Like, is this the worst thing that ever has been made? I don't know. Like, I'm appalled by what has happened to me after watching that movie. All right, well, enough movie stuff, enough awards. This has been fantastic. I love for you and see it.

I love tampering even more. Really appreciate you both. Stephen Ruiz and Lindsay Jones for jumping on with me here on Triple Threat. Going to give a shout out to Eduardo Ocampo, Stefan Anderson, Connor Nevins, Arjuna Ramqqqqq, everyone who helps make the Bringer Annabelle show, specifically dual threat and extra point-taking vibe. Until next time, until the next tampering or until Nora Prenciotti comes back

from her campaign tour with Robert Kennedy. Jr. We will see. This has been Austin Gail, Lindsay Jones, and Stephen on dual threat. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandall is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800

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